…Call for audit, rerun of 2026 NBA presidential election

A group of Nigerian lawyers has launched Reform the NBA, a campaign calling for electoral and institutional reform within the Nigerian Bar Association following the disputed 18 July 2026 presidential election.

The group, in a statement, on Friday, by the Partner, ELIX LLP, Maduka Onwukeme, as part of its immediate demands, called for an independent audit and rerun of the 2026 presidential election under credible and independently verified safeguards.

The group maintained that the circumstances surrounding the election raise questions that should be resolved through evidence rather than competing claims.

It said: “The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) acknowledged that the voting platform did not commence as scheduled and identified technical issues including database connection failure, authentication changes, server instability and an authentication verification defect. It also stated that voting was temporarily impossible for several hours before the election was suspended and migrated to an alternate platform. The ECNBA has attributed the disruption to coordinated cyberattacks.”

Reform the NBA, therefore, said these claims should be independently verified through a technical and forensic audit capable of establishing what happened, what caused the disruption and whether the electoral records support the declared result.

“The campaign is also concerned by the election’s participation figures. Of 82,172 registered voters, 26,184 participated, representing a turnout of 31.86 per cent.

“The campaign says the resulting figure of 56,107 non-participating members should not automatically be characterised either as voter apathy or disenfranchisement.

“The question is not simply who did not vote. It is how many eligible members were actually able to vote,” the campaign said. The group demanded four specific reforms for future elections.

“Independent certification of the voting platform before an election, with testing by the technical representatives of every candidate.” it said.

“Full-volume authentication testing before election day to ensure the system can handle the expected number of voters.

“A published platform-failure protocol setting out when an election must be suspended, who has authority to suspend it and what safeguards must follow.

“Enforceable consequences where electoral committees or service providers fail to meet established technical and procedural standards.”

The group argued that these reforms are necessary to ensure that future NBA elections do not repeatedly become contests over the credibility of the electoral process.

“This is not about one candidate. It is about the NBA and the integrity of the system through which its members choose their leaders,” the campaign said.

Reform the NBA will, in the coming weeks, publish further information on the 18 July election, the questions arising from the electoral process and its proposals for institutional reform.